Baylor, George Wythe - Col.

Posted December 10th, 2010 by ancestralheroes

COL. GEORGE WYTHE BAYLOR, San Diego, Guadalajava, Mexico. —Born Aug. 24, 1832, at Fort Gibson, Cherokee Nation, and enlisted in the Confederate Army on March 17, 1861, at Weatherford, Tex., as First Lieutenant of Company H, Second Texas Mounted Rifles. There were two regiments organized, First and Second Texas. One was commanded by J. S. Ford and the other by Henry E. McCulloch. My first Captain was Hamner and my first Colonel was John S. Ford. We enlisted for three years, or during the war, and were sworn into the service at San Antonio in May. Ford's regiment had four companies. It went to El Paso, there became Pyron's regiment and enlisted more men and companies, and went to Louisiana under Gen. Tom Green. Was never wounded, but was badly scared by being hit on the nose at Shiloh April 6, 1862. Had a horse shot under me at Yellow Bayou, La., in 1864. Was never made prisoner. Was elected First Lieutenant of Company H, and went to El Paso under my brother, Lieut. Col. Baylor. Was appointed aide to Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston, and after his death was appointed Major, with authority to raise first a battalion, then afterwards a regiment, and was appointed Colonel of Second Arizona Regiment. Was in the capture of the U. S. regulars at Organ Mountains, Ariz., now New Mexico. Was at Shiloh, and in all the fights in Louisiana in which Col. Tom Green figured; Mansfield, Cane River, Monett's Ferry, Marksville, Mansura and Yellow Bayou. Had the pleasure of escorting Gen. Banks (as Brigadier General W. P. Lane, commander of Baylor's brigade, was wounded at Mansfield). As I was senior Colonel, took command till the close of the campaign. It is difficult to select any particular event where all was strenuous. It was our misfortune that we were not prepared for war. We began behind a little and could never catch up. If the Louisiana forces had been equipped as well as the Virginia troops we would have sent all of Ben Butler's fleet to the bottom of the Mississippi River, and this lacked only a few days of being completed. And if Gen. Albert Sydney Johnston had not been killed at Shiloh we would have captured the Federal Army. I was in command of my brigade at the time we captured the "City Belle" with troops, destroyed the Covington, and Signal No. 8, gunboats, and captured the "Warren," a steamboat loaded with supplies and troops going up the river. At the battle of Mansfield it was my regiment that lead the charge of Gen. Hardeman's division, which turned the enemy's right wing and out them to flight. All Gen. Hardeman's division were in the charge. We captured quite a number of prisoners. It was these men who were killed at the last volley, and among them was Gen. Mouton, as brave a man as any of Napoleon's marshals. I would like to say here that I was not fighting for a thing which I believed to be right, but for one which I knew to be right, the defense of the Constitution as our fore- fathers left it to us—the right to hold our slaves, and the right of the States to govern their own internal affairs. We went down, but the day will come when the doctrine of States Rights will be as dear to the American people as it was to Dixie. We had the right, but not the power to secede. Massachusetts set the example by threatening to secede if any more slave territory was added. We are now united, and it is a matter of pride with me that Dixie put up a good fight and that the American has proved to be the best soldier on earth. They have conquered in every war in which they have been engaged, and never were whipped till they fought each other. God grant that we may ever remain one People.